Four Apparitions

This came from a seminar I took with Barbara White and Riley Lee on the shakuhachi, the bamboo flute from Japan. We transcribed recordings of different masters playing traditional pieces, and learned the irregular terrain of the holes, the different ways of producing a pitch, the special events that can only happen on certain notes, a vocabulary of ornamentation. I love this music now – the nuance, expressiveness and superhuman athleticism of a master like Riley is astonishing.